Want to Know What I Know?
Noun Clauses
Noun clauses harm more students than any other part of English syntax. The easiest way to learn how to use noun clauses is to think of them as subjects or objects. Remember, clauses have a subject and verb; it is the same with noun clauses. Look at the question at the top of this page. Can you find the noun clause? Good. It is [what I know]. You might say this does not look like a clause because of the word order. This is common in noun clauses. The reason is we sometimes refer to a subject before we know what it is. Look at sentence (1).
1. What I know is it is dangerous to drink and drive.
In this case [what] refers to [it is dangerous to drink and drive]. You could leave out the [what] and simply write sentence (2).
2. I know it is dangerous to drink and drive.
Do you see the other word that I omitted? It was [is]. That is because we no longer had a clause when we omitted [what].
Let's look at another example. In sentence (3) this is a very common type of sentence that starts with [it] and has [that] before the noun clause.
3. It is a shame that Tom broke his leg.
The noun clause in (3) is [that Tom broke his leg]. This noun clause gives us the information to tell us the meaning (or reference) of [it].
Interesting, right? You can see that noun clauses can be used as subjects or objects. Look at sentence (4).
4. That anyone could be so stupid amazes me.
See the noun clause? Cool. It is [that anyone could be so stupid], and it's the subject.
Now look at (5).
5. I don't know where the party is.
Now you can easily see the tricky little noun clause. It is [where the party is], and it's the object of the sentence.
1. What I know is it is dangerous to drink and drive.
In this case [what] refers to [it is dangerous to drink and drive]. You could leave out the [what] and simply write sentence (2).
2. I know it is dangerous to drink and drive.
Do you see the other word that I omitted? It was [is]. That is because we no longer had a clause when we omitted [what].
Let's look at another example. In sentence (3) this is a very common type of sentence that starts with [it] and has [that] before the noun clause.
3. It is a shame that Tom broke his leg.
The noun clause in (3) is [that Tom broke his leg]. This noun clause gives us the information to tell us the meaning (or reference) of [it].
Interesting, right? You can see that noun clauses can be used as subjects or objects. Look at sentence (4).
4. That anyone could be so stupid amazes me.
See the noun clause? Cool. It is [that anyone could be so stupid], and it's the subject.
Now look at (5).
5. I don't know where the party is.
Now you can easily see the tricky little noun clause. It is [where the party is], and it's the object of the sentence.